Citius Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Maynard, Mass., said Leonard Mazur, its chairman and CEO, purchased 5 million restricted shares from the company for $3 million, enabling the company to continue to advance its product portfolio while enhancing its infrastructure to support the development of multiple candidates. Read More
Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, said the first subject was dosed in a phase Ia, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging study to test the safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of its oral, next-generation, noncovalently binding BTK inhibitor, SNS-062, in healthy subjects. Pending successful results from that trial, which is being conducted in Belgium, the company plans to move into phase Ib/II testing in patients with B-cell malignancies later this year. Read More
Atara Biotherapeutics Inc., of South San Francisco, said the EMA granted orphan drug designation for the company's allogeneic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-targeted cytotoxic T-lymphocyte product candidate for the treatment of patients with EBV post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. Read More
India's Ministry of Commerce & Industry said the government will continue to issue compulsory drug licenses as warranted under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement. Read More
SINGAPORE – Better quality filings, more reliable manufacturing and much-improved regulatory environments have rendered mute many of the longstanding concerns associated with the biopharma industry in Asia. Read More
Eli Lilly and Co. has gained FDA approval for Taltz (ixekizumab), a new drug intended to help clear the skin of adults with moderate to severe cases of plaque psoriasis, a patient population with a growing number of therapies from which to choose. Read More
In work that has implications for melanoma, targeting cancer metabolism and noncoding RNAs, researchers have reported that a broad swath of melanomas were addicted to the long intergenic noncoding RNA (lincRNA) SAMMSON. Read More
Corvus Pharmaceuticals Inc. managed to price 4.7 million shares at $15, the low end of its desired range of $15 to $17, to raise $70.5 million and become just the eighth biopharma IPO of 2016, including two offerings of American depositary shares and one on the Australian Securities Exchange. Read More
The 21st Century Cures Act is on its way to the moon. House sponsors of H.R. 6 met with Vice President Joe Biden last week to couple the 350-page bill aimed at streamlining the development of much-needed drugs and devices with the cancer moonshot. Read More